You're comparing apples and oranges here. The X7 is meant as a jack of all trades; it accepts inputs from many different types of sources and works really well with both speakers and headphones (providing virtual surround for any stereo devices as well). I use my X7 for headphones most of the time; therefore, it provides a higher end DAC, amp and DSP function for when I use headphones. Surround receivers are meant for speakers and speakers only (yes, most of them have headphone outputs but the audio quality is terrible for the most part). If you're only using speakers and don't want the various features of the X7, go ahead and grab a receiver. If headphones are your thing, the X7 is where it's at. Virtual surround is simply amazing when used with some great cans.

I don't think so. Everything you just described my receiver also does for much less money. The headphone jack has rather high output impedance and is really more for 300ohm+ cans but the quality is as good as any solid state headphone amp I've tried. I can see this creative thing for tight spaces as mentioned but that's about it.